Smoothies are a great way to increase your vegetable and fruit intake. Fruits and Vegetables are the sources of various nutrients our body needs to function well. Smoothies are a fabulous meal replacement and a healthier snacking option. Using Smoothies in our diet plan can help improve overall nutrition in our diet.
Smoothies and Nutrition
1. Why Use Vegetables & Fruits for Smoothies?
Fruits and vegetables are a natural and important source of vitamins, minerals, and plant chemicals. We also get natural fiber from fruits and vegetables which aids in cleansing the digestive tract.
You can get free downloadable charts for Nutrition Information on Raw Fruits and Vegetables from U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) website.
It is recommended by FDA to have 5 servings of vegetables and 2-3 servings of fruits each day. Most people’s diets lack enough vegetables and fruits. This daily lack of nutrition in the long run adversely affects our health, leading to various illnesses.
Do you have that many vegetables and fruit servings every day?
Most smoothie recipes combine 2-3 types of fruits and/or vegetables. By choosing the right recipe, we can meet up to 30% -40% of our daily intake requirement with just one smoothie a day.
Tweaking our eating habits, a little can go a long way in improving our health.
2. Why Avoid Extra Sugar?
Most of us consume far more sugar. Processed foods generally have a lot of added sugar by one name or another.
Fruits have natural sources of sugar. One must avoid adding sugar when preparing smoothies.
Between Fruit Smoothies and Vegetable Smoothies, Vegetable Smoothies should be preferred because
- We need more servings of vegetables compared to fruits.
- Fruits contain sugar, although natural sugars.
Even if you plan to buy smoothies check for added sugars. Choose sugar-free options. For example, you can review nutritional information when you purchase smoothies directly. See the nutritional information on the smoothie king menu.
3. Why Add Seeds?
Most smoothie recipes include flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, and chia seeds. Seeds are loaded with nutrients that energize you and keep you satiated longer. Most seeds are a good source of unsaturated fat (Omega – 3) which is mostly missing from vegetarian diets. They also have some fiber. Healthy Fats & Fiber both help in keeping us satiated for a longer duration of time.
Free eBook: 10 Nutritious Smoothies
We offer 10 Nutritious Smoothie Recipe Ebooks available for Kindle and Other formats to help you with your daily nutrition intake. Along with the recipes for delicious smoothies, the book includes health benefits for each smoothie.